Note that this festival beat Woodstock by several months. It was held in the north Miami suburbs on a lot owned by the Seminole tribe, the privacy keeping nervous, anti-rock Floridian authorities at bay. The Dead had just played down the street in December, and they would return in December and again in March! That's a lot of trips to Miami for a Bay Area band. Thanks to Bear, the bands were still recovering from the night before. The show doesn't stand out for '69; just average to below average GOGD. The next two shows have no tapes.

The night before closed with Lovelight. Weirdly, they came back onstage and opened with it. This one is not only better, it has the finest bits of the set. The first jam [@2:15>8:30] is the show's best, and Jer briefly enters a unique jam @13:45, but after that it's window dressing. Must hear once. After a shaky Doin' That Rag comes a half good/half draggy Just a Hand to Hold. On the SBDs there is a 36sec cut @4:40. It's complete on the official, but the pitch goes wonky at this solo, slowing to -2%. China Cat goes into The Eleven - they will circle back to Stephen later. Natural choice Alligator is loose and seriously loses the tempo. Puzzled Florida record buyers would have known one song this night. Drums, like much of these two nights, is shoes in the dryer, with no cohesion or interplay. Stephen arrives with a hard start, sans the intro section. This is actually a pretty good Feedback. The official edits the end of And We Bid You Goodnight, where Jer says the Youngbloods are up next.

Overall = 2½ stars

SOURCES: The unknown_10737 is a bit better in the first half than kpfa_16177. The latter smooths the cut in Just a Hand to Hold by removing a little more, and is missing 17sec of the end of Feedback. The former is missing that plus the first few secs of AWBYG. The entirety is on Road Trips v4 n1.

4

Nice show


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i am right now was one of the finest dead shows and i am so grateful it was recorded for such a time as this...a lot has changed in 41 years. the seminole indian village is now The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino inside the Seminole Paradise where billions of dollars are generated from these people who where the only indian tribe to never sign a peace treaty with the US gov't or surrender. in 1969 they may have been living in aject poverty but sure were jammin on this night